12Learning About, by and for Peterborough
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AREA BASED CURRICULUM 12 LEARNING ABOUT, BY AND FOR 12PETERBOROUGH THE RSA AREA BasED CUrrICULUM IN PETErbOROUGH LOUISE THOMas DECEMBER 2012 www.thersa.org Reports and Publications diagram AREA BASED CURRICULUM 12 THINKING ABOUT 12AN AREA BASED CURRICULUM A GUIDE FOR PRACTITIONERS LOUISE THOMAS DECEMBER 2012 www.thersa.org Thinking about an Area Based Curriculum: A Guide for Practitioners AREA BASED AREA BASED CURRICULUM CURRICULUM RE-THINKING THE IMPORTANCE OF TEACHING: The RSA ARe A BASed CuRRiCulum: CURRICULUM AND COLLABORATION IN AN ERA OF LOCALISM Engaging the local Louise Thomas March 2012 12 09 THE RSA AREA TOWARDS AN BASED CURRICULUM AREA BASED 12IN PETERBOROUGH CURRICULUM: AN INDEPENDENT EVALUATION MANCHESTER CURRICULUM PROFESSOR DAVID JAMES LITERATURE REVIEW CARDIFF UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR KERI FACER DECEMBER 2012 MANCHESTER METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY AREA BASED www.thersa.org AREA BASED 2009 CURRICULUM CURRICULUM Re-thinking the The RSA Area Engaging the Towards an Area Importance of Based Curriculum Local: the RSA Area Based Curriculum: Teaching: Curriculum in Peterborough: Based Curriculum a Literature Review and Collaboration in an Independent an Era of Localism Evaluation AREA BASED AREA BASED CURRICULUM CURRICULUM AREA BASED CURRICULUM LESSONS FOR LOCALISM THE RSA AREA BASED CURRICULUM Louise Thomas November 2011 12 09 LEARNING ABOUT, 12 MANCHESTER BY AND FOR CURRICULUM: 12PETERBOROUGH A REPORT AND THE RSA AREA BASED CURRICULUM REFLECTIONS FOR IN PETERBOROUGH FURTHER DEVELOPMENT LOUISE THOMAS PROFESSOR KERI FACER 12 MANCHESTER METROPOLITAN DECEMBER 2012 PROJECT TOOLS UNIVERSITY www.thersa.org RSA AREA BASED CURRICULUM 2009 LOUISE THOMAS DECEMBER 2012 AREA BASED www.thersa.org CURRICULUM Learning About, Manchester By and For Lessons for Project Tools Curriculum: Peterborough: Localism: a Report and the RSA Area the RSA Area Reflections Based Curriculum Based Curriculum for Further in Peterborough Development AREA BASED AREA BASED AREA BASED AREA BASED AREA BASED AREA BASED CURRICULUM CURRICULUM CURRICULUM CURRICULUM CURRICULUM CURRICULUM West Town Primary School Dogsthorpe Junior School Bishop Creighton Academy and and Peterborough Cathedral and Railworld Peterborough Cathedral PETERBOROUGH CURRICULUM CASE STUDY PETERBOROUGH CURRICULUM CASE STUDY PETERBOROUGH CURRICULUM CASE STUDY 12 12 12 09 09 09 MANCHESTER MANCHESTER MANCHESTER CURRICULUM CURRICULUM CURRICULUM CASE STUDY: CASE STUDY: CASE STUDY: NORTH MANCHESTER WHALLEY RANGE SCHOOL PARKLANDS SCHOOL HIGH SCHOOL FOR BOYS PROFESSOR KERI FACER PROFESSOR KERI FACER DR JONATHAN SAVAGE MANCHESTER METROPOLITAN MANCHESTER METROPOLITAN MANCHESTER METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY 2009 2009 2009 Peterborough Peterborough Peterborough Manchester Manchester Manchester Curriculum Case Curriculum Curriculum Case Curriculum Case Curriculum Case Curriculum Case Study: West Town Case Study: Study: Bishop Study: Whalley Study: Parklands Study: North Primary School Dogsthorpe Creighton Range School School Manchester High and Peterborough Junior School Academy and School for Boys Cathedral and Railworld Peterborough Cathedral ii Contents Reports and Publications diagram ii RSA Area Based Curriculum 2 Executive summary 3 Section 1: introduction 7 Section 2: what the RSA did 12 Section 3: developing learning about, 15 by and for Peterborough Section 4: the curriculum development partnerships 22 Section 5: the impact 28 Section 6: challenges 35 Section 7: next steps 38 Bibliography 40 Appendix – Peterborough Curriculum case studies 41 West Town Primary School and Peterborough Cathedral 42 Dogsthorpe Junior School and Railworld 49 Bishop Creighton Academy and Peterborough Cathedral 56 RSA Area Based Curriculum This report forms part of a collection of publications on the RSA Area Based Curriculum. For an overview of the work see ‘Thinking about an Area Based Curriculum’ which contains links to all other publications in the series. 2 Executive summary Introduction This report The case for school-based curriculum design seems to have been won. describes the Politicians and headteachers appear to agree that the nationally pre- approach and the scribed body of knowledge contained in the National Curriculum should process, focussing on provide a minimum entitlement, but should not define everything that is taught in schools. the value and impact Given, however, that accountability systems may have been reinforced of partnership through recent changes to inspection and assessment, how do schools take working for schools this opportunity to develop a whole curriculum that both meets national on students, expectations (in an international context) and meets the wider needs and teachers, and the interests of their students’ families and localities? What resources are wider community available for them to draw upon to decide not only how knowledge should be taught, but what should be taught? Is there an opportunity in this new consensus to open up spaces in schools for democratic conversations with local communities about the purpose of education? And what might the implications of these conversations be for the kinds of knowledge, skills and attitudes long taken for granted by schools? The RSA has a long-standing concern with human capability, and in its contemporary ‘21st Century Enlightenment’ mission endeavours to realise human potential, and to mobilise the social capital of its 27,000- strong Fellowship for the social good. The RSA’s education programme reflects this agenda of realising human capability, and has consequently focused on educational engagement as a precursor to attainment, and on democracy and empowerment in and through education. These latter concerns, coupled with an interest in the power of citizen participation to reform public services through a model of ‘social productivity’ (2020 Public Services Trust, 2010) underpin our Area Based Curriculum intervention. This curriculum is an example of localism and social productivity in action. As part of a wider programme called Citizen Power, the RSA worked with five schools in Peterborough during 2010 – 2012 to develop a series of projects in partnership with organisations and people from the local area. The goal was to create engaging learning experiences that draw on the locality, at the same time as involving a diverse range of stakeholders in the education of young people. This report describes the approach and the process, focussing on the [link to www. value and impact of partnership working for schools on students, teach- citizenpower.co.uk ers, and the wider community. What the RSA did The RSA selected five schools in the city which were enthusiastic about curriculum redevelopment and engaging with their communities. Executive summary 3 Through a process of networking, local resource mapping, partnership support and project development the RSA supported schools to identify potential partners, and begin to develop partnerships. The RSA provided Continued Professional Development in curriculum design, partnership working, involving young people in curriculum design, and using the local area for learning. We then supported the partnerships to develop, plan, and evaluate their projects. Developing Learning About, By and For Peterborough All of the schools we worked with took different approaches to developing Area Based Curriculum projects, and placed a different level of emphasis on creating curriculum that was: • about a place: making use of local context and resources to frame learning • by a place: designed by schools in partnership with other local stakeholders, and • for a place: meeting the specific needs of children and local Full case studies for each communities of the projects are avail- able separately here. Although each of the projects touched on all these to some extent, we have identified three projects that illustrate each aspect particularly well: Learning about Peterborough: The Cathedral in a context of a changing city (West Town Primary School and Peterborough Cathedral) This project demonstrates the potential for projects that start with local areas to go well beyond the locality: to address national curriculum content as well as adding meaningful engagement with children’s own – global – communities. It also demonstrates the importance of reimagining local sites as resources for learning that goes well beyond the obvious established features of a site. Learning by Peterborough: Making Peterborough a destination city (Dogsthorpe Junior School and Railworld) Staff from Railworld worked closely with the school to develop a strong partnership in which collaborative planning was possible, and in which activities for students related both to the school’s curriculum, the chil- dren’s personal development, and to the goals of the partner organisation and wider city. Learning for Peterborough: The role of the Cathedral and our school in the community: past, present and future (Bishop Creighton Academy and Peterborough Cathedral) The project revolved around the production of a ‘Question Time’ style event in which members of the inter-faith council, and the school council, sat on a panel and answered questions from the audience of Year 4 and 5 students. This project demonstrates how the school curriculum can become a ‘social project’ which engages with the real issues facing a community, specific to time and place, through engagement with local institutions. 4 Learning about, by and for Peterborough Curriculum development partnerships At the core of the Peterborough Curriculum approach was the